Written by

JACKIE REHWALD

Free art therapy

Free Art Therapy for Cancer Survivors is 3-5 p.m. Nov. 15 in the Support Group Room at Mercy O’Reilly Cancer Center, 2055 S. Fremont Ave. Call 417-820-2500. This class is open to any cancer patient or survivor (not just Mercy patients). Other options

Contact hospital or counseling centers to inquire about music or art therapy opportunities.

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Maciela Gomez swayed back and forth, her glittery green fairy wings swaying with her. The toddler was entranced by the soft music coming from the harp.

“She’s dancing,” her mother, Tamara, said.

Maciela was born prematurely in August 2011 and has since spent more than her fair share of time in a hospital. But during this particular hospital stay, she got a special treat: a fairy costume, an art project, stories and a harpist serenading her with “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”

Janel Bagby with the Discovery Arts Program at Mercy guided Marciela to a table filled with crafting supplies. Today’s art project consisted of decorating clay flowerpots with jewels and embellishments.

“Make it sparkly like your wings, baby doll,” Bagby said to Maciela.

The Discovery Arts program at Mercy is hosted by a nonprofit organization that gives hospitalized children a little break from the stresses of being sick through art and music. The first Thursday of each month, Bagby shows up at Mercy Children’s Hospital with boxes of costumes, books and art supplies. Each child gets to keep the costume, so nurses report seeing superheroes and princesses throughout the wing for days after Bagby leaves.

“Anything you can do to take their minds off what they are going through or that they are sick,” Bagby explained. “You are giving them, for a little while, that normalcy. They are having fun. They get to play. They get to move, dance and do art. Plus, they are using their imaginations.”

A young man in an Iron Man mask, Cameron Johnson, sat across from Maciela.

The 8-year-old boy from Republic, who was being treated for a ruptured appendix, worked quietly to glue blue stones to his pot.

“Art is one of his favorite things to do. The pot — he thought it was neat. He could give it to his mom,” his father, also named Cameron, said later. “He loved the harp. She let him strum on it and that made his day. It really touched my heart to see him doing something fun and inspirational.”

Art helps in variety of ways

Art therapy programs like Discovery Arts can play an important role in a person’s recovery, be it from cancer, drug addiction or a ruptured appendix, explained Catherine Newberry-Kristek, registered art therapist. Newberry-Kristek leads free art therapy classes for cancer patients and survivors at the Chub O’Reilly Cancer Center at Mercy. The classes combine art expression therapy with good old-fashioned group therapy.

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“They can have all these emotions and feel trapped inside, and they don’t want to burden others,” Newberry-Kristek said. “(Creating art) is a way to speak for themselves and soothe themselves and share with people that are going through the same thing.”

Cancer patients and survivors meet in the support group room at 2055 S. Fremont Ave. several times a year to share experiences and express their feelings through art. Sometimes they sift through magazines in search of photos and words that represent their feelings to create a collage. Or they might visualize what’s important to them, then draw or paint the life they hope to have. It’s up to the survivor, Newberry-Kristek said.

“The (meeting) room has windows on three sides,” she said. “Usually the sun is setting when we meet. It’s a beautiful place to be in to draw and paint. It’s a place where they can relax emotionally and physically. It’s a chance for them to get out of their home, to breathe a little deeper and let go of emotions. They sleep better after they’ve expressed themselves. They are more physically relaxed.”

Wanda Turk of Springfield attends the art expressive therapy classes at Chub O’Reilly Cancer Center. Though her esophageal cancer has been in remission for nearly two years, Turk said expressive art therapy continues to be a big part of her life and recovery.

“When you are a cancer patient, it doesn’t matter how long it’s been or if you are still in treatment,” Turk said. “You can go there and you’re surrounded by potential friends. You just get to visit and release all the stress (and) have a break from it all.”

According to Newberry-Kristek, art expressive therapy is also a useful tool for those recovering from substance abuse. She works with addicts at the Clarity Recovery and Wellness, formerly Sigma House Recovery Center, encouraging them to express their feelings through art. Projects might include imagining their lives without drugs or alcohol, with their families, with a job, with a car, and then to draw or paint that life. Or they might create their “road to recovery” — a lifeline to help them see patterns.

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“When they stop using, all these emotions come flooding out. Their children are now important to them. They miss their families,” she said. “They can visualize where they want to be, (and) say, ‘This is what I want: I want my body to be healthy. I want my mind to be healthy.’”

Soothing tunes

Back at the Discovery Arts Program, harpist Jill Norton continued to play while the children finished their flowerpots and Bagby read stories. The longer the music played, the heavier Maciela’s eyelids became. It wasn’t long before the little girl with fairy wings crawled into her mother’s lap and fell asleep.

Norton said later that she took Maciela’s nap as a compliment.

“In ancient times, you were not considered a good harpist until you could bring out certain emotions in people: sleep, dancing, tears and laughter,” Norton said. “The harp has that effect on people. If they are tired, they will go to sleep.”

A registered nurse, Norton first discovered the therapeutic benefits of music when she worked in the children’s unit at Lakeland Behavioral Health. There, many of the children she worked with had behavioral disorders including severe attention deficit hyperactivity disorders.

“A lot of those kids can’t focus and have a hard time finishing their work,” she recalled. “I started bringing my (small) harp to the hospital and letting them play with it. ... The kids would sit and play that harp until you would have to tell them to stop. You could teach them a simple little song on the harp and they would focus on playing. It was a highly effective therapy for these kids who were being put on medications and treatments to calm them down.”

Years later, she and fellow harpist Darice Augustson co-founded Harps for the Heart, a nonprofit to aid them as they volunteer their time in hospitals and with hospice patients.

She said music has wonderful benefits for those patients who cannot be touched, like the babies in the neonatal intensive care unit.

“The preemies are so ill. Their skin is so thin and they are so unstable, you can’t pick them up,” she said. “Babies, we know, need to be held and nurtured and cuddled. If they are really sick, you can’t do that. We set the harp by their bedside and (it) seems to have a similar effect. Their oxygen rate goes up. Their respiratory rate goes down. They are not working as hard to breathe. Their blood pressure will stabilize. ... It has a powerful positive effect on them.”

The music also has a calming effect on the adults in the unit, Norton added. Worried parents seem to relax a bit. Doctors and nurses tell Norton they are more focused and calm when she is playing.

Hospice patients at the U.S. Medical Center for Federal Prisoners, Norton said, also benefit greatly from hearing soothing music.

“Those patients, because of the situation and rules of the institution, can’t be touched. You’re not supposed to hold their hand,” Norton said. “Anybody that is dying, whether is a federal prisoner or what, needs to be touched. They need someone to hold their hand.”